British Police come forward with UFO encounters

(Courtesy: Skywatch International)
Source: Sunday Independent [London]
Date: November 22 1998
Headline: Police open their X-files on UFO encounters
By Jason Bennetto
A GROUP of retired and serving police officers are risking ridicule
by coming forward to tell all about their alleged encounters with
UFOs.
More than 20 officers have responded to an advertisement in Police
Review inviting them to recount their close encounters of the third
kind. These include stories of alien abduction and gigantic blocks of
light hovering above their squad cars.
At least two former officers claim to have photographic evidence of
their meetings with extra-terrestrials.
Their extraordinary stories are to be collected in a new book
Policing the UFO, to include interviews with at least 20 former and
serving police officers and as many as 200 recorded incidents
involving police from around the world. Many of the examples from the
second category will be taken from previously unreleased Ministry of
Defence papers.
The book's author, Irene Bott, has chosen to concentrate on police
officers because of their relative position of trust in society.
"They are less likely to be written off as cranks, loonies or
anoraks," she explained.
Others may, however, think they are boldly going beyond the call of
duty and risking ridicule and professional suicide.
For this reason, many officers appear to have waited until they have
left the police service before speaking out, although others who
contacted the researchers feel so strongly about what they have
witnessed that they are prepared to be named.
The reported encounters include:
- An officer who claims to have been abducted and medically examined
by aliens in the 1980s. The former officer, who has yet to give the
full details of his case, is said to have been out driving when he
experienced disturbances to his vehicle followed by memory loss. He
later recalled, via hypnosis, being taken aboard a space craft and
examined by aliens.
- A police officer says he took five photographs of a UFO while on
duty in the West Midlands in the 1980s, but that the MoD confiscated
them.
- A policeman and woman were out on patrol in the countryside and saw
lights and a cylindrical object in the sky.
- An officer who saw a disc shaped object hovering 20ft above the
road.
- A police officer who, in the 1970s while on duty, saw a
wedge-shaped object in the sky that was about four storeys high and
50ft long.
- Declassified MoD papers from the 1950s to the 1970s that report
investigations into reported sightings by police officers and
incidents at military bases. The files name police officers involved
and allegedly include accounts of helicopters being sent after UFOs.
There have also been several reports from officers in Sussex - one as
recently as last month - an area which is considered a fruitful zone
for UFO sightings.
While the majority of the police officers who have been in contact
are retired, some are serving and include an Inspector.
Ms Bott said: "In a court of law the person who is most believed is
usually a policeman. Also, these people are out day and night
observing things around them so they are excellent witnesses.
"A UFO is simply an unidentified flying object, it's not little green
men.
"Many officers do not want to talk about it openly while they are
still serving because they can kiss their promotion chances goodbye."
So far she has been in touch with about 20 serving and former
officers - two serving officers contacted her a couple of weeks ago
and claim to have seen UFOs in the past month.
Nick Redfern, an author of several books on UFOs, who is assisting Ms
Bott with her project, added: "These people are willing to fly in the
face of potential ridicule, which shows how strongly they feel about
what they have witnessed - these are strong, credible witnesses."
One of those to come forward was former Pc John Hanson. His encounter
with a UFO took place on the evening of 14 June 1995.
Mr Hanson, 52, who retired from the West Midlands police force in
1994, after 27 years service, was at his home near Redditch,
Worcestershire, when he looked out of his bedroom window.
"I saw a silver pear-shaped ball of light hovering over a tree," he
recalled. "It was about 40ft off the ground, and about 20ft long and
5ft wide.
"Immediately opposite was a red cigar-shaped object, about 30ft tall.
"The pear ball suddenly moved and there was a piece cut out of it
like a wedge of cheese. It then changed into the shape of a jelly
bean and jumped onto the cigar shaped object. The two objects then
fused together, produced a rippling light and were gone."
He said the whole episode lasted about five minutes and took place at
10.35pm, and that a similar sighting took place 20 miles away on the
same night.
"I am not talking about flying saucers or space men, but an
unidentified object - some form of energy source," he added.